Mt. Washington

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(pault842 @ Oct 9 2006, 09:34 PM) [snapback]330368[/snapback]</div>

All I can tell you is that my family did that trip in the late '70s in a 1973 Chrysler Newport sedan that was, no joke, 18' long, and close to 6' wide. I mostly remember the smell of brake pads burning on the way down and the fact that when I looked out the window, there wasn't any road to see to the side of the car -- it was barely wide enough for us to pass. Then these crazy local taxi cabs would barrel up the other direction bringing tourists and they'd try to squeeze by, which was a physical impossibility. That, and the fact that when we got to the top on an August day, it was snowing. And the weather station had giant chains going across the roof in several directions to hold it down.

Have fun!

 

I hope some one who has done this will comment. We have a few hills out west and several steep ones. The Prius did well. You may need to be a bit patient near the top, if the battery maxis out. It will be OK and the down hill will be better than OK. If the battery has any capacity near the top drain it and use the ICE.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(pault842 @ Oct 9 2006, 09:34 PM) [snapback]330368[/snapback]</div>

Don't get nervous when you hear the engine squeeling going up steep hills.... That is perfectly normal..... At least they tell me it is.

 

Leave the Prius behind (any car for that matter) and take the cog railway. The trip is a lot more fun when you let a railroad engineer do the driving for you. You can enjoy the scenery and not worry about, well, DYING a hideous (yet certainly spectacular) death should you momentarily let your guard down and try to enjoy the view.

However you go, you'll be impressed with the view up there. Some trivia: the highest wind speed recorded on earth was measured atop Mt. Washington, IIRC, it was 231 mph. Humble suggestion: You should probably visit when winds are less than this. . .

 

Yes, take the railroad!

If you do drive, remember to shift into "B" all the way down, and afterwards shift back into "D". The engine will roar alarmingly going both up and down. This is completely normal for these conditions and is perfectly safe.

 

Go with your Prius and enjoy the trip.

We have been traveling with our '06 in southern Colorado and recently went over the pass on 160 north of Trinidad. The pass was over 9400 feet and the Prius powered up at 65 mph, but the battery assist had about dissapeared. Honestly there wasn't much reserve left but the car was getting about 33 mpg while some of the other SUVs on the road were running out of breath too and likely getting less than 10 or 12 mpg doing the same pass. Yes, there were some behemoths which could have gone over the pass at over 100 mph, but at what expense?

Then coming down the other side we had a most unusual experience....the mileage screen after 30 minutes going down ended up all green and registered 100 mpg for the entinre half hour. Cool!

Enjoy the car...it will do anything you want it to, with in reason.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(captnslur @ Oct 10 2006, 08:59 AM) [snapback]330554[/snapback]</div>

In this case, it's totally NOT about the car -- I'd give the same advice regarding the Mt. Washington trip, totally irrespective of the proposed vehicle. Despite my flip remarks, the road isn't really that bad, it's just a lot more enjoyable a trip on the cog RR. You can relax, and enjoy the ride while being pushed up the hill by an old coal-fired steam engine. For a lot of folks, the drive is harder on their nerves than it is on their cars. At any rate, having done both several times (I lived in NH for almost 20 years, 64-83) my vote is unquestionably for the RR! I do have to admit, however, that I am curious to see what the MFD would show on the way down. . .

 

Why not leave all modes of locomotion behind, and hike up. It's really one of my favorite hills to climb, and it's awesome once you get to the lake in the clouds, the tree line. There's a great little place to stop and munch on food carried in.
I found it a dissapointment at the top with all those people up there in flimsy shoes, but there are other closeby peaks that are pretty gnarly.
HOpe the trip is/was enjoyable.
ss

 

I don't know how any environmentally conscious Prius driver could recommend taking the SMOG railroad up Mt. Washington. That relic should be put to rest for good, unless you enjoy mountains covered in thick, black soot and the less than tranquil sound of clacking gears for miles and miles. Bah!!!

 

I was up there just last week. Had to go to Meridith, NH for a week of training. Instead of flying from Phila I opted to drive with another guy. We took my Tundra not the Prius. We went to the top last Thursday and I counted a total of 9 Prius either going up or coming down. If you want to put out 50 bucks and be covered by soot and smoke take the cog. I still can't believe tha thing is still running. They should convert it to electric

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(pault842 @ Oct 10 2006, 02:38 PM) [snapback]330796[/snapback]</div>

Good heavens no, it's not normal AND it's not because it's a new car. It's because your brakes absorbed a whopping overdose of energy. You had roughly 3000 pounds worth of car 6288 feet above sea level. Bringing it back down safely forced your pads and rotors to dissipate a huge amount of energy, at least relative to the time and horizontal distance in which it had to be dissipated. Your battery soaked up a bunch of it, but as your nose testified, nowhere near all of it. That said, unless you warped a rotor (or have other signs of damage), I doubt you need to make a special trip to the service department.
==============================================================

Bohous:

Your attitude is why so many "mainstream" folks hate us and our hybrids. I visited Mt. Washington many times, and never noticed the black blanket you seem worried about. If they "upgrade" the technology someday, so be it, cool; in the meantime, I find the CRR a quaint and quite effective way to get up the mountain. Gee, I thought all you hard-core enviro-hybrid folks were supposed to be big on mass transit and sharing rides. . . Bah humbug right back at ya -- I'm taking the train every time, I stand by my recommendation to do so, and my brakes and transmission will thank me for doing so. Hey, maybe they should replace the existing coal-fired locomotives with nuclear powered units!

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(FJRCRAZED @ Oct 10 2006, 06:01 PM) [snapback]330866[/snapback]</div>

Notwithstanding my comment, above, yes, an electric conversion would be a good thing. In the meantime, I don't see a big problem. I've ridden it multiple times back into childhood, and I don't recall ever being "covered in soot". No, given the technology and its age, it's certainly no model of cleanliness, but let's keep this thing in perspective. One small train. . .

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(pault842 @ Oct 10 2006, 06:09 PM) [snapback]330870[/snapback]</div>

Time permitting, I couldn't agree more!

Heh, heh, it's NOT snow time just yet here. . .

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(ekpolk @ Oct 10 2006, 06:08 PM) [snapback]330869[/snapback]</div>

Yikes, only 7 posts to find out that I'm a stereotype and people hate me! Seriously though. I didn't mean to ruffle your feathers. I know a lot of people love the cog and that's why t's still there and getting packed full of tourists and kids on a regular basis. I understand on a global scale the cog is a drop in the ocean but being another one of us who prefer to bag their White Mountain peaks in boots I find it a dirty menace. Just a difference of opinion I guess.

Ever been there in the winter. It's much more obvious. I do not know, I just can't feel all warm and fuzzy about this:

 

OK, feathers not really ruffled, and the one or two that may have been out of place are back. . .

Yeah, I do know that it leaves some "stuff" on the snow. But I enjoyed it as a kid, and my kids have too, so I'll give it a lot of slack. I guess it is a matter of perspective. In my many years in the military, I've visited some places overseas where the enviro-atrocities make the CRR's soot look like a model of cleanliness (in fact, a good blanket of soot would have done some of these places some good). A snoot full of a concentrated feces-plus-unregulated-industrial-waste makes the twang of coal almost seem pleasant. My favorite was the air base in Japan where I was stationed a couple times. They actually had a working crematorium just across the fence on the west side of the base (on purpose, I'm sure). Every Tuesday and Thursday, IIRC, for most of the day, we were treated to the unforgettable sweet stench of -- yup -- burning human corpses -- lots of them -- wafting liberally across where we lived and worked. It's been over 15 years since I left there, but sometimes I can smell it like it was yesterday. Somehow, I just can't get too excited about one quaint little train that has been so much fun for so many generations.

Now I will ask this academic, semi-rhetorical question: I wonder how many years/miles of Prius ownership and driving are undone by one round trip on the CRR???

. . . and I do suppose that we can completely agree that a nuclear powered replacement for the CRR is probably a poor idea!

 

I did Mt. Washington a year and a half ago when our Prius was new. You'll have no problems at all regarding the Prius ascending it. I tried to make the battery die and couldn't. The day I did it was warm bluebird weather with visibility over 100 miles.

On the way down I opened all of the windows and turned the A/C on "Max" cold, fan on high, to waste as much juice as possible, while having the shifter in "B". I descended the Mt. largely on A/C, not brake pads. You'll do what you have to do based on the weather. When nearing the base resume normal driving mode so as to keep the battery full.

FWIW, the mileage down doesn't make up for what was burned on the way up. Bigger batteries might help there but it's an unusual few miles and the Prius isn't designed to handle the extraordinary loads this trip places on it.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(pault842 @ Oct 10 2006, 12:38 PM) [snapback]330796[/snapback]</div>

Once the battery is as full as the computer will allow it to get, regenerative braking can no longer be employed because there's nowhere for the electricity to go. (Maybe they should put in a great hulk of a resister just for those big downhills!) "B" mode is like putting a conventional transmission in low gear: the engine compression absorbs and dissipates some energy. But if the hill is too steep, the engine cannot absorb enough, and the brake pads must take the remaining energy. And if the hill is long enough, they'll get hot.

The Prius is probably better than any other car at this kind of thing, because at least some energy can go back to the battery, so the brake pads come into play later in the game. But even the Prius will have to burn some brake-rubber (in a manner of speaking) under some conditions.

Without taking a stand on the steam engine, the train would definitely be a better choice as far as the car goes.

I'd like to have a steam locomotive and one of those old-time luxury train cars. I think that'd be way cooler than a private jet.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(pault842 @ Oct 9 2006, 09:34 PM) [snapback]330368[/snapback]</div>

You're going up to the summit this late in the year? I went up there in Aug. in 1980. On the ground it was 80 degrees & sunny. As we went higher we encountered rain, hail, sleet, and finally got to the top. It was 32 degrees and light snow was falling. I will tell you that you have to put your car in 2nd gear on the way down if it's a std. shift. I would call a dlr. and ask a service mgr. what his best idea is. Your brakes will super heat on the way down if you don't use the trans. as a brake. The road is narrow and treacherous. Good luck and be CAREFUL. Mt. Washington is no place to take lightly.